5 lessons from the 2024 candidates' financial reports
President Biden has a notable but not overwhelming financial advantage over his Republican rival, former President Donald J. Trump, and Nikki Haley – the latest Republican candidate to stand in the way of Trump's nomination – appears to have the money to support her insurgent to continue. fight against him.
Those were the key findings from a trove of campaign finance documents filed ahead of the Federal Election Commission's Feb. 1 deadline for year-end fundraising and spending reports.
The size of Mr. Biden's war chest and the significant money at Ms. Haley's disposal show in financial terms that Mr. Trump is vulnerable, even as he tries to project an air of inevitability about his nomination as the Republican candidate.
The documents also provided an autopsy report of sorts for Gov. Ron DeSantis' failed presidential campaign — one of the most expensive since the introduction of the modern Republican primary.
Here are some takeaways:
Ron DeSantis spent it freely
Mr. DeSantis' failed presidential campaign cost more than $160 million. He finished a distant second to Trump in the Iowa caucuses, and soon after dropped out of the race altogether.
The campaign account is a huge sum that reflects Mr. DeSantis' stunning decline in the race over the past year after announcing his candidacy to much hype. A super PAC supporting Mr. DeSantis backed Never Back Down had about $120 million in cash by the time he entered the race in May. By the end of the year it had spent all that money and then some.
Haley kept expenses under control
Ms. Haley has raised $24 million in the last three months of 2023 and has started this year with $14.6 million in her campaign account, signaling a financial operation robust enough to continue her fight against Mr. Trump in the Republican primaries to put – at least for the time being.
It is a reward for Ms. Haley's campaign, which kept costs low ahead of the nominating contests. A super PAC backing Ms. Haley, SFA Fund Inc., spent much more aggressively, raising $68.9 million for the year and spending almost the entire amount, ending the year with about $3.5 million on hand.
What is less clear now is how well Ms. Haley is raising money in the wake of her two losses to Mr. Trump in Iowa and New Hampshire, which came after the year-end spending deadline.
Biden is ahead of Trump, but not by much
President Biden's campaign had about $46 million in cash on hand at the end of 2023, compared to $33 million for Donald Trump's campaign. It is a notable financial advantage for Mr. Biden, but it is not as big an advantage as some expect for an incumbent president versus Mr. Trump, who still has Ms. Haley as a rival in the primaries and whose super PACs are spending. tens of millions of dollars in legal fees that could go to his campaign.
Trump's legal bills are piling up
On Wednesday evening, Mr. Trump's campaign said it had $33.1 million in cash on hand at the end of 2023, substantially more than Ms. Haley's total as they continue to fight for the nomination. But Mr. Trump, who faces four criminal charges, has significant legal bills. His PACs spent about $50 million on legal fees last year.
Sinema's fundraising is slowing
Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who is delaying a decision to run for reelection as an independent this year, has raised just $595,000 in the final three months of 2023. Although she had a respectable amount of cash on hand, this was her lowest amount. quarter of fundraising for the year, raising more questions about how viable her candidacy would be if she chose to run. Ms. Sinema ran as a Democrat in 2018 and then left the Democratic Party in 2022.